Silence
by sassgoddess
Summary: Mission: Protect Fire, the famous band, from Silence during their tour. "Ne, guys, what's Silence?" Will Mikan's first mission be the last, considering failure means elimination, and her "assignment" is to protect the sinister but perverted Natsume Hyuuga? NatsumeXMikan, other slight pairings as well! My first story ever! Rated T for now, may be changed later.
1. The Mission

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

 **Hi everyone! This story has NatsumeXMikan pairing (mainly), with slight HotaruXRuka, MisakiXTsubasa, and SumireXKoko. And this is my first story ever soooooo... please give me a lot of feedback on how to improve as I want to improve my writing skills too. But regardless of the number of reviews, I'll still upload as I write for myself. Flames are welcomed too :) Hope you like my story!**

 **Update: Yeah, I just updated it because I feel the chapter is rather short. At first I planned to divide it into two short chapters but it makes sense to make them into one, so I just did it. *sassy mode on***

 _"_ _What is the music of life?"_

 _"_ _Silence, my brother."_

 _-Skyrim_

"…Another famous band's concert has been wrecked," the female announcer said, her voice echoed from the TV speaker. "Authorities have confirmed that this is indeed another work of _Silence_ , as the evidence—a printed picture of a broken tone—has apparently been found in the electricity room. It is suspected that…"

A brunette was sitting on the couch in that room. She munched her cereal, her eyes fixated on the TV screen with interest.

"Ne, guys, what's _Silence_?"

"That's what happened when you never watched or read news," a pink-haired girl, who was standing in front of the fridge, rolled her eyes.

"They're a very notorious gang who always wrecked famous bands' concerts. By cutting the electricity, by kidnapping the band member right before concert, by releasing wild dogs during concert… their methods vary." A green-haired girl came and sat next to the brunette, holding a glass of orange juice in her hand. "Mikan, you _really_ need to keep yourself updated. This is related to our job."

The brunette—Mikan—pouted. "I was busy lately! You know I've been practicing to pass my exams, Sumire, Misaki."

"By the way, isn't the result supposed to arrive today?" The pink-haired girl—Misaki—closed the fridge. Now she was holding an apple.

"Yep!" Mikan smiled widely, but also anxiously. "I hope I passed. I can't wait to get permission to work with you guys."

"Well, you already failed twice. If you fail again, that'll make you super idiot." The green-haired girl—Sumire—said mercilessly.

"Sumire!" Mikan groaned. "Don't jinx it!"

"Morning, Hotaru!" Sumire ignored Mikan and greeted the black-haired girl who just came inside the house.

The girl—Hotaru—lifted up a huge brown envelope, already opened. "I got the mail."

"Is that—" Mikan's eyes widened. She quickly stood up.

Hotaru threw the envelope on Sumire's lap before walking away. "I'll go up and pack now. We're leaving at noon."

Mikan flopped back on the couch. "Another long-term job, huh?" She couldn't hide her disappointment. "I'll be lonely again."

"Don't worry, Mikan, we'll bring you souvenirs and stories as usual." Misaki approached her and patted her shoulder.

Sumire took out the documents inside the envelope and skimmed through them. A smile played on her lips. "Do you want to hear some good news?"

Mikan's eyes lit up again. "What?"

Sumire lifted a piece of laminated paper. On the top was written: _Certificate of Accomplishment_. Mikan had seen three of them before, so she knew what that thing was. "I passed the test?" She blinked in disbelief.

Sumire gave that certificate to her and some other papers. "These are your work permits," she said. "Stamped and signed. And some other documents, too, which you can read later."

Mikan's hands trembled in excitement as she read the words on the certificate. Her name was written there, with some congratulating words.

"Congratulations, Mikan!" Misaki hugged her from behind. "I know you can ace it!"

Sumire, too, hugged Mikan from the side. "I'm so proud of you," she said as she let go of Mikan. Her eyes were already watery. "Hey, don't cry just yet. I have another news for you."

Mikan and Misaki stared at Sumire, puzzled.

Sumire smirked and waved another paper. "You're coming with us for this job."

"SERIOUSLY?!" Mikan jumped and grabbed the paper. She quickly read it.

 _Mission: Protect_ Fire

 _Members:_

 _1._ _Sumire Shouda – Team Captain_

 _2._ _Hotaru Imai_

 _3._ _Misaki Harada_

 _4._ _Mikan Sakura_

"OH MY GOD! Mikan, you're coming with us! Isn't this awesome?!" Misaki hugged Mikan again. "This is going to be so much fun!"

"There are four copies for each of us, containing the details of the work. Hotaru already took hers," Sumire distributed the rest of the copies. "Please read through them and pack, as this is going to be a long mission. As Hotaru said, we'll leave at noon."

With that, Sumire left.

Misaki, too, left shortly afterwards, leaving Mikan, still smiling widely at those documents.

She read the mission paper again and tilted her head. "Anyway, what's _Fire_?"

 _Mission: Protect_ Fire

 _Members:_

 _1._ _Sumire Shouda – Team Captain_

 _2._ _Hotaru Imai_

 _3._ _Misaki Harada_

 _4._ _Mikan Sakura_

 _To Miss Mikan Sakura,_

 _Congratulations upon passing the Final Exam._

 _We chose you to join this mission so you can observe one of the best teams_ Alice _has. We fully realize that even the best teams have their weaknesses, and after observing your skills, we have decided that you can complement what they are lacking. From now on, you will be a permanent member of this team._

 _As for this mission, we will require you to:_

 _1._ _Pack your belongings, all of them, as this will be a long-term mission with undetermined period._

 _2._ _Research and find out more about_ Fire _._

 _As you should have known,_ Fire _is a four-manned band whose name is climbing the ladders rapidly these days. Apparently they have received threats from_ Silence _, so their manager had put a request for us to protect the members during their upcoming tour._

 _The individual member-to-member is as below:_

 _1._ _Sumire Shouda – Kokoroyomi (bassist)_

 _2._ _Hotaru Imai – Ruka Nogi (keyboardist/guitarist)_

 _3._ _Misaki Harada – Tsubasa Ando (singer/guitarist)_

 _4._ _Mikan Sakura – Natsume Hyuuga (drummer)_

 _Instructions:_

 _1._ _Your weapons will be delivered together to your new place. It is expected to arrive around 3 P.M. Please keep them safely and maintain their performance. For repair, Miss Misaki Harada will be able to assist you. You should ask a thing or two about weapons maintenance to her._

 _2._ _Once you arrive there, you will have to:_

 _a._ _Meet your assigned member, Natsume Hyuuga. Do research about him beforehand. Gain his permission and set boundaries for his convenience._

 _b._ _Teach him emergency measures, but DON'T let him touch your weapons._

 _c._ _Get to know him better to make him more comfortable._

 _d._ _Stick around him 24/7 as much as he let you._

 _e._ _Ensure that his living place is safe. Changes to the place may be made as necessary, but only with_ Alice _'s and Mr Natsume Hyuuga's permission._

 _3._ _Disguise yourself whenever you are going in public. Disguise kit will also be delivered. Enquiries can be brought up to Miss Sumire Shouda. You can learn about disguise and 'honey trap' from her._

 _4._ _Keep investigating about_ Silence _._

 _5._ _Constantly keep in contact with the other members to exchange important information. Basic spying kit, such as smart glasses, Bluetooth speaker, infrared detector, etc., will be delivered as well. Miss Hotaru Imai will be more than happy to assist you in repair, maintenance, and usage._

 _6._ _DO NOT FAIL. Failure, as you should have known very well, will result in unavoidable elimination._

 _Good luck._

A drop of sweat rolled down Mikan's forehead. _Elimination?_

 **Is it too long now? Well, whatever. Anyway, don't forget to comment! Thanks for reading!**

 **Special thanks for my three very first reviewers: chewybillabong, Carolle Royale, and AnimeMango! I was so encouraged by your reviews!**

 **~sassgoddess**


	2. The Meeting

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice**

 **Hi again, sassgoddess here~! I'm still overflowing with inspiration so yeah, here's chapter 2! Enjoy!**

 **Note: I updated my first chapter and extended it, because I felt it was too short. So please re-read it. Feedback and flames are always welcomed :) Again, special thanks to: chewybillabong, Carolle Royale, and AnimeMango!**

 _"What is the music of life?"_

 _"Silence, my brother."_

 _-Skyrim_

Mikan stepped down from the limousine Alice had sent to pick the girls up. Now in front of her is a heavily-guarded mansion. She just set her feet down when two men in suits approached her with unfriendly atmosphere. "Do you have anything to do in this place?" They asked seriously.

Mikan stuttered, but Sumire quickly took over as she stepped out of the limousine confidently. "We are from Alice, and we are hired by Mr Akira." She showed them some documents. They read through it briefly before taking out their transmitters and mumbling incoherently for a few minutes, which felt like eternity.

After that, they turned back to the girls. "Apologies for this inconvenience, Miss. We are just fulfilling our duty. This way, please. Our men will take care of your belongings."

"I'd say you're doing a good job. Keep it up," Misaki said encouragingly as the guys led them to a small entrance. The guards opened up the gate and the girls sashayed in.

"Mr Akira is waiting inside," the guards opened the door of the mansion.

Mikan gasped at the grand interior she saw. The mansion was like a palace. Red and gold velvets were spread everywhere—on the couch, on the floor, as tapestries. A huge crystal chandelier hung prettily from the high ceiling. The floor and pillars were sparkling, as if it had just been scrubbed.

"Are you from Alice?"

A man with long black hair dressed in suit walked down the carpeted spiral stairs.

"We are," Sumire confirmed. "And you must be Mr Tonouchi Akira. Pleasure to meet you." Sumire walked forward and shook the man's hand. "I'm Sumire Shouda, the head of this team."

"Just Tono, please." That man smiled. "Thank you for accepting my request."

"That's in our job description, Mr Tono—to protect people in need. And feel free to call me Sumire." She smiled back. "I would love to introduce my team, but I think it will save time to just introduce them to the band members as well, if they are here…?"

"Oh, yes, they are all here. Our tour begins tomorrow, so I would like them to have a good rest today. They're all in their rooms. I'll call them to come down now."

Mikan restlessly looked around. That band had to be very, _very_ popular. Now it made her curious—what kind of people would they be? Especially that Natsume Hyuuga?

(Yes, as expected, Mikan disregarded the instructions to research about that…)

A raven-haired boy was reading manga lazily on his bed when someone slammed his door open. "Yo, Natsume! We're going downstairs. C'mon. And why are you naked?" A blue-haired boy stared at him from the doorway. "Oh yes, your funny habit of getting naked as soon as you go inside your room. Well, you'll need to throw that habit away, then. We're getting bodyguards."

Natsume sat on his bed, completely uninterested. "Well, I think my bodyguard can handle me walking around with boxers, at least. He's just gonna be an old, muscular man, right?" He imagined a bald man with sunglasses and suit, with a gun in his pocket. He watched too much James Bond, apparently.

"Whatever, just come. Tono insists us to come faster to meet our individual bodyguards. I'm equally unexcited as you, y'know."

"I thought you like old guys, Tsubasa?" An ash-haired guy teased as he peeked inside Natsume's room. "Hi, Nat-Nat."

"Don't call me that," Natsume glared at him.

"What the hell, Koko. I'm straight, y'know," Tsubasa defended himself.

"Yeah, that explains the abundance of girls you've been playing around with," a blonde-haired guy joined the conversation. "Natsume, put on some clothes. Let's go down faster."

Natsume grabbed a random shirt and put it on.

"It's just because we don't click, Ruka, you know that," Tsubasa said again defensively. Koko mimicked his expression sarcastically, earning him a good punch on the shoulder from Tsubasa.

Natsume stood up and walked out.

"I don't want bodyguards. It will make our lives more difficult, won't it?" Koko suddenly sighed and said.

All of them said nothing, although they all agreed silently inside their minds.

The four of them began to walked down the stairs and found their manager with…

Tsubasa rubbed his eyes. "I think my eyes are playing tricks on me."

Koko blinked his eyes several times. "Seriously?"

Ruka's jaw dropped. "You must be kidding me."

Natsume stared at those people, utterly dumbfounded for the first time of his life. "Our bodyguards are gonna be… _girls_?"

"Why are you guys standing there?" Tono called out. "Come! It's impolite to make ladies wait."

The four guys slowly walked down the stairs, their eyes fixated on the girls, reflecting confusion and disbelief.

The girls glanced at each other, but didn't comment.

"Tono, don't tell me they're…"

"Ah, yes, they're your new bodyguards," Tono said lightly, cutting off Ruka's sentence. "Now be good gentlemen and introduce yourselves, will you?"

"You must be freaking kidding me," Natsume scoffed. "Do you think _girls_ can protect us from _…_ "

Suddenly the pink-haired lass had a knife on Natsume's neck.

The green-haired girl smiled charmingly at Natsume. "If you have any dissatisfaction, Mr Hyuuga, I would be pleased to hear them… after we introduced ourselves, if you may."

Natsume jumped back in surprise. _That was quick_ , he thought. _And she knows me. They must have done some research._ "Fine," Natsume said quietly, as his hand subconsciously rubbed his neck, where the knife had almost cut him.

"Thank you, Mr Hyuuga." The green-haired girl nodded to the pink-haired one, who retreated, keeping her knife. "My name is Sumire Shouda, the head of this team. And these are my teammates, Hotaru Imai—"—she pointed at the black-haired girl with lazy eyes—"—Misaki Harada—"—she moved to the tall pink-haired girl who almost killed Natsume—"—and Mikan Sakura." Sumire finished off with the petite brunette, who looked really dumbfounded. "And we are from Alice."

"Alice?! Do you mean—the famous corporation specialized in providing agents?! I heard they provide bodyguards as well as spies and assassins but… for real?" Tsubasa stared at them wide-eyed. Natsume had heard about Alice. It was, as Tsubasa said, a famous corporation, which produced high-class spies, assassins, fighters, snipers, soldiers, and, apparently, bodyguards too.

"Mr Tonouchi Akira here had hired us to protect you guys from _Silence_ ," Sumire continued. "We are fully trained, so you guys need not worry."

"Well, I guess they're… trustworthy. They're from Alice, after all," Ruka said, glancing to his teammates.

"Maybe they can be formidable opponents for _Silence_ ," Koko said while nodding approvingly.

Natsume said nothing. He merely stared at the girls with dislike.

"I am the so-called leader of this band," Tsubasa stepped forward, smiling an equally charming smile at Sumire. "The name's Tsubasa Ando. And as for my teammates… here we have Kokoroyomi, Ruka Nogi, and Natsume Hyuuga." Tsubasa pointed at each one of them. "Glad to have you guys… I mean, you _girls_ here. With the threat from _Silence_ coming, we indeed need to have some kind of… protection." His smile turned into a grin.

"As for that, we actually had made some arrangements. We're gonna protect you member-to-member, individually, 24/7."

The boys glanced at each other again. "Wait, so let me make this clear. You guys—or girls, whatever—are going to stick with us _individually_ , _twenty-four-seven_?"

Sumire shrugged. "Depending on the limits you set on us. We're professionals. We can follow you inside the bathroom if you don't mind. Think of us as bodyguards, not fangirls. And we have assigned the members, actually, if you don't mind…?"

"I'm sure they wouldn't mind having pretty girls by their sides," Tono cut off.

Mikan and Misaki giggled as they eyed their own "assignments".

"So I'll be guarding Mr Kokoroyomi," Sumire said as she nodded to Koko. "Miss Hotaru Imai will be in charge of Mr Ruka Nogi."

Ruka turned his head to the black-haired girl, who paid him no attention, unlike her teammates. She finally noticed his stare and said, "Hi." Then she yawned indifferently.

"Have fun, Ruka," Koko patted Ruka's shoulder.

"I think she's pretty cool. Better than those crazy fangirls outside. Have fun to you, too."

"Dude, I'm so gonna ask her to come inside the bathroom while I'm bathing. Don't you see those curves?" Koko whispered, smirking evilly.

Ruka glared. "Maintain your hormones, will you?"

"Miss Misaki Harada will take care of Mr Tsubasa Ando."

Tsubasa locked eyes with Misaki. Misaki smiled prettily at him, while Tsubasa was silently grading her appearance. "I'll give her nine out of ten," he whispered to the others. "This may be more fun than I expected."

"And lastly, Miss Mikan Sakura is assigned to Mr Natsume Hyuuga."

Natsume sighed. Why out of all those pretty and hot girls, he had to be stuck with the least sexy one?

 **Aaaaand that's it for chapter 2! Please don't set the bar too high for me, I only write what crossed through my mind (tee-hee). Thanks for reading!**

 **~sassgoddess**


	3. The Threat

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice**

 **Hi everyone, it's me again~ thank you all for your reviews, I'm happy you find my story interesting! So now please go ahead and enjoy, as usual, feedback is much appreciated! :)**

* * *

 _"What is the music of life?"_

 _"Silence, my brother."_

 _-Skyrim_

* * *

After the brief introduction, Sumire dismissed them to have a "get-to-know" session with their respective pairs. And so the guys brought the girls up to their respective rooms.

Compared to the other guys, Natsume spoke the least. On the contrary, Mikan was a chatterbox, so Natsume's silence made her mouth itchy.

"So, you're Natsume Hyuuga!" She said as they walked up the stairs. "Can I call you Natsume?"

"Hn."

"You can call me Mikan."

"Hn."

"I heard you're the drummer."

"Hn."

"Can you say anything besides 'hn'?"

"Hn."

Natsume opened his door, revealing his messy bedroom to Mikan. Mikan didn't mind—she herself was a messy person. "Can I come in?" She turned to him, because he didn't say anything.

"Hn."

Mikan grew annoyed at his attitude. "Look, we'll have to work together, whether you like it. You're unfortunately stuck with me, but I promise I'll just be a mere bodyguard, all right? Now we'll have to discuss the limitations and stuffs." Mikan sat down on a chair. "The faster we do this, the faster you can get away from me."

Finally Natsume complied. He walked in, shut the door, and sit on his bed, across from Mikan.

"You set the rules, so go ahead," Mikan leaned back on the chair.

 _My rules?_ "First rule, no complaining about my habits."

Mikan tilted her head. "Alright, acceptable, unless it involves cigarette and drugs."

He glared at her. "Do you think I'm that low?"

Mikan shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Then, don't hang around too close. You're annoying me."

Mikan rolled her eyes. This Natsume guy was extremely unfriendly. "No can do. I'll have to stick with you like white on rice. Just set the clear boundaries."

"I'll set it later." Natsume thought about other rules. "Let's see… don't meddle with my personal life."

Mikan's pretty hazel eyes showed disappointment. "Aw, c'mon. Can't we be friends?" She pouted. She really wanted to befriend Natsume. She liked befriending people, after all.

Natsume rolled his eyes. "I have no intention of befriending flat-chested girls."

Mikan blushed madly. Her arms subconsciously moved to cover her chest area. "Y—you pervert!"

"I'm merely stating a fact. Wait, let me think of some other rules."

Mikan scoffed in irritation. As she waited, she let her eyes wander through the room. It was painted dark crimson— _like his eyes_ , she thought. There were one king-sized bed, one huge closet, a TV and PlayStation and some other game consoles, a door which she presumed led to the bathroom, a set of gaming computer, and—to her amazement—a complete set of drums. _Maybe I can ask him to play it for me later,_ she hoped.

Her eyes wandered again and stopped on his desk. Besides some books, there was only one other thing on that table—a photo frame. Mikan squinted, trying to see what picture that was.

"What are you doing?" Natsume knitted his eyebrows in suspicion.

"Oh, I want to see the picture on the photo frame," Mikan answered honestly, pointing at the frame. She could see Natsume in the picture… with a girl.

"That's none of your business."

"Is that girl your girlfriend?"

Natsume looked at her funnily. "You don't recognize her? Do you even read news?"

"Uh, sometimes?" Mikan answered hesitantly. "Who is she?"

Natsume sighed. "She's Luna Koizumi, the daughter of Koizumi Music Industries, our current employer. And yes, she's my girlfriend."

Mikan gasped. She recognized that name. "So you're together with her? I heard she's very beautiful and talented. I'd love to meet her."

"Well, you can't. She doesn't have time for people like you."

Mikan pouted and turned to Natsume. "You don't have to be so… WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Hm? Taking off my shirt, of course." Natsume was already halfway doing so.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PLANNING TO DO?! I CAN DO MARTIAL ARTS! IF YOU TRY TO RAPE ME, I CAN SCREAM TOO!" Mikan jumped back and stood in a ready-to-attack position.

Natsume threw off his shirt somewhere on the floor, sighing. _This girl is so freaking loud. There goes my peaceful days,_ he thought wistfully. "You're already screaming anyway. Listen, Miss Mikan Sakura, this is a habit of mine. And you have agreed to accept all my habits, _unless it involves cigarette and drugs_ , am I correct?" He smirked in triumph.

Mikan blushed at the sight of his naked body. "W—well," she squeaked. "I—I guess that's fine, then." She forced herself to keep professional. _It's okay. Imagine he's another guy in swimming pool. It's… perfectly… normal… for him… to be shirtless._

"And for your information, this room is soundproof. You can scream as loud as you want, nobody's gonna hear you." Natsume grinned at her. "We can have a lot of fun together, Miss Mikan Sakura."

Mikan, still blushing, bit her lip. Apparently her first job was going to be tougher than she imagined. _Elimination_ , the word repeated in her mind with a singsong voice.

 _No,_ Mikan toughed herself. _I can do this. I can handle Natsume Hyuuga…_

Mikan's eyes accidentally landed on some mangas on the floor, which covers showed things that obviously were not supposed to be seen by underage kids.

Her cheeks flushed a deeper shade of red. _…or maybe I can't._

* * *

"Thank you for the food," Mikan set her cutleries down, satisfied with the dinner. "Thank you for the hospitality, too."

"This is nothing. You guys are the ones helping us, after all. It is only natural to pay you back," Ruka smiled politely at her.

"So, how did the get-to-know session go, guys?" Sumire opened the conversation.

"Well, apparently Misaki-chan here is a big fan of our band," Tsubasa pointed at Misaki.

"I think your songs are great!" Misaki grinned cheerfully. "My favorite song is _Red Memories_. It was so nice. I heard you guys wrote the song by yourselves."

"Yes, I made the lyrics," Tsubasa said, "while Ruka there made the melody."

"It was nothing much," Ruka humbled.

"I really envied you guys! It must be nice, being able to play musical instruments and sing," Mikan blurted out.

"We can teach you in our free time," Koko suggested.

Mikan's hazel eyes sparkled. "That would be awesome!"

At that moment, the maids came and set plates of chocolate lava cake in front of each of them.

"Chocolate lava cake for dessert? Thank you so much!" Mikan beamed at one maid, who just nodded politely.

"It looks so nice. Let's dig in," Misaki took her spoon excitedly.

"Wait!"

Everyone turned to Sumire, who had a serious look on her face. "Don't eat," she said sternly while standing up.

"What? What happened?" Koko asked in confusion as Sumire lifted his plate up.

After a few seconds, she set it down. "Koko, don't eat the cake. It's poisoned. Just now I smelled a really strong smell of poison. Now it's faint, but I can still smell it." She walked around the table. "I guess only yours is poisoned. Guys, you can go on eating."

The boys shifted uncomfortably on their seats, already lost their appetite after Sumire's announcement; but Mikan dug into her cake without hesitation, followed by Misaki and Hotaru.

Ruka caught Hotaru's arm. "Hey, what if it's poisoned?!" He looked at her with worried eyes.

Hotaru shook his arm off easily. "Sumire has a very keen sense of smell and taste. She was never once wrong, and I don't think she'll break the record anytime soon. I have absolute trust in her," she said quietly as she put a spoonful of cake into her mouth.

Ruka stared at her. "I—I guess I'll eat too," he said timidly as he lifted his spoon.

Hotaru took a piece of his cake.

"Hey!" Ruka protested.

Hotaru ate it and said, "Yeah, no poison. Eat, scaredy-cat."

Ruka looked at her, dumbfounded. "You were checking for poison?"

"That's our job, Mr Ruka Nogi." Misaki smiled as she, too, took a piece of Tsubasa's cake. "Mm, delicious. Go ahead, it's safe."

Tsubasa smiled back as he wiped the corner of Misaki's mouth with tissue. "Eat slower." He chuckled. Misaki blinked, but joined in the chuckle soon enough.

Mikan glanced at Natsume. "Look, I know you don't like this, but I have to do my job."

Natsume didn't reply, so Mikan just took a piece of his cake. Nothing unusual. "It's safe to eat," she declared. "Go ahead. Eat it."

Natsume rolled his eyes. "I don't believe in you."

"Fine then!" Mikan took his whole cake and ate it whole. Natsume stared at her. "Hey, hey! You just ate my cake!"

"I thought you're scared of poison?" Mikan said sarcastically. Soon enough, both of them were involved in a heated argument. Everyone else just laughed at them.

"You can take my cake," Sumire slid her plate to Koko. "I'm on diet anyway."

"Why are you on diet? You're thin enough. I think you have to eat more," Koko said.

"I know you like chocolate cakes. Just eat it."

Before Koko could ask, Sumire said, "You wrote how much you like chocolate cake in your blog. I researched about you."

Koko pondered for a while before dividing the cake into two. "I like chocolate cakes," he admitted, "but I guess, I like seeing pretty girls smile more than cakes." He gave Sumire half of the cake.

Sumire lightly blushed, but she quickly hid it. "That's so cheesy," she exclaimed.

"Oh? But that's true. You're pretty." Koko said lightly.

Although Sumire had dealt with a lot of compliments while disguising, the way Koko said it—lightly, while smiling, as if they were just talking about the weather—made her blush a bit. _Pull yourself together, Sumire!_ She mentally slapped herself. _You're the head of the group—you'll have to maintain your professionalism!_ She punched Koko's shoulder to hide her embarrassment.

"Hey! What was that for?!" Koko rubbed his shoulder. Sumire was undoubtedly strong, and although she wasn't using her full strength, her punch still hurt.

"Nothing, sorry," she replied to him inaudibly, trying hard not to show that she was actually freaking out. She then took a spoonful of the cake.

All the girls agreed: the cake was absolutely delicious.

* * *

 **So, yeah, that's it for chapter 3. It may take me longer time to update because currently I'm working on another multi-chaptered story. (Spoiler: it's the sequel for Ogygia.) So if I update this one very fast, I'll take longer time to update that other story, and vice versa. I always go with the flow, so I only write stories when I'm in the mood.**

 **Again, thanks for reading! Hope to see you in chapter 4 :)**

 **~sassgoddess**


	4. The Tour

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice**

 **Hi! I'm really sorry for disappearing my internet just defied me for these past few days, and I need to buckle up for my upcoming exams as well. *sigh* well I promise I will try to keep updating constantly :)  
**

 **Please enjoy!**

* * *

 _"What is the music of life?"_  
 _"Silence, my brother."_  
 _-Skyrim_

* * *

"Girls, just now, we found that Koko's cake had poison in it. You know what that means, right?"  
"Someone had infiltrated inside," Misaki said glumly.  
"Not a good sign," Mikan bit her lips.  
"Anyway, we're leaving for the tour tomorrow morning," Sumire announced. "We'll be going in separate vans. Keep in contact with Bluetooth speaker. Report any anomalies immediately. Understood?"  
Everyone nodded.  
CRASH!  
"WHAT THE HECK?!"  
The sound came from Tsubasa's room. The four girls didn't waste any time and ran there. As they opened the door, they could see Tsubasa's window was broken, and there was a brick lying on the floor.  
"Tsubasa! Are you okay?!" Misaki immediately approached Tsubasa.  
"Y—yeah."  
The three other guys barged in as well. "What was that sound?!" Koko shouted.  
"What happened, Tsubasa?" Sumire demanded.  
"I was idling on my bed when suddenly, a brick came through the window," he pointed at the brick. "That's all."  
"Wait. Guys," Mikan approached the brick. She put on a rubber glove before picking it up. "There's an envelope attached to it." She unattached the envelope from the brick and opened it. Inside the envelope was a white paper with a huge broken tone printed on it, and two intimidating words:

 _IT'S FUTILE._

Weirdly, Sumire smiled. "So they're unnerved by our presence, huh?" she smirked playfully. "Girls, it seemed that it's going to be a really fun tour."  
BANG!  
Suddenly Misaki shot her gun outside the window.  
"Someone was outside, on the tree," she murmured. "The presence was very faint, but it was certainly there for a moment before it disappeared. Must be a very skillful person. I couldn't hit that person, but I think my bullet must have grazed him or her."  
"Let's see then if anyone is going to have a graze tomorrow," Mikan grinned.  
"Alright. Tsubasa, your room shouldn't be occupied tonight. Do you guys have spare bedrooms?"  
"Of course," Tsubasa said.  
"Then we'll be sleeping there tonight. C'mon, lead the way." Misaki grabbed Tsubasa out. Tsubasa looked confused for a while, but followed Misaki willingly nevertheless.  
"We should get some rest too. Tomorrow is going to be a long day," Sumire announced. With that, they dispersed.  
Mikan followed Natsume to his room, where Natsume immediately undressed again. But this time, Mikan was determined not to be fazed. "Alright, good night, Hyuuga." She opened her suitcase and took out a blanket. She lay on his couch and tucked herself under the blanket before Natsume could say anything.  
"You're sleeping there?"  
"I'm sleeping here, yes."  
"You're sure you don't want the bed? There's a lot of room for two people, y'know." Natsume smirked.  
"Go away, Hyuuga. You have a girlfriend." Mikan turned around, so now she faced the backrest of the couch.  
Then she felt something soft on her back.  
"At least you can use some pillows."  
Mikan found a head pillow and a bolster, and gratefully slipped them under her blanket. "Thank you," she whispered.  
"Hn." Natsume rolled about on his bed, before Mikan could hear his steady breathing, signaling he's asleep.  
Mikan unconsciously smiled. Natsume Hyuuga might not be the perfect gentleman, but at least he still had a heart.

* * *

"…and that's done!" Mikan put the last of her bags outside the mansion.  
The guards took her bag into the van. She politely smiled at them. It was six in the morning, and they would be going for the tour soon. Everyone was loading their baggage into their respective vans.  
"Mikan, where's your partner?"  
"Oh. I think he's still in the room. I'll go there," Mikan rushed to Natsume's room, only to find him still in deep slumber.  
"Hyuuga, wake up." Mikan shouted.  
No response.  
"Hyuuga." Mikan poked him.  
To her surprise, Natsume grabbed her wrist subconsciously and tried to drag her to the bed. Mikan quickly twisted his arm out of reflex, and Natsume woke up. "OUCH! That hurt! What the heck are you doing to me while I was asleep?!" He yelled.  
"You started it! You grabbed my wrist, half-asleep. It was reflex!" Mikan yelled back. "Whatever." Natsume yawned and rolled.  
"Hey, wake up, Hyuuga. Everyone's ready. We're going soon."  
"Don't care."  
"WAKE UP!"  
"Do me a favor."  
"What?"  
Natsume glared. "Get out of this room. I'll come out in thirty minutes."  
"Order denied."  
"I need to bathe and change my clothes. Unless you want to see me naked." Natsume threw her a challenging gaze.  
Mikan blushed. "P—pervert!" She scrambled out of his room. "Move faster! I'm waiting outside!" She shouted before closing his door.  
Natsume lazily stretched, like a cat after taking a nap under the sunlight. Oh, yes, the tour is today. He yawned as he walked into the bathroom.  
He took his own sweet time to bathe and get ready, purposely to piss Mikan off. After forty minutes, he emerged from the room, only to face an irritated Mikan.  
"Why are you so slow?! The others left already with their vans! We need to catch up soon before we get completely separated," Mikan grabbed Natsume's wrists and pulled him all the way to the van. She pushed Natsume in the van roughly and jumped in herself before calling out, "Alright, go!"  
The van drove off, and Mikan took a walkie-talkie out of her jeans pocket. "Van number four leaving, van number four leaving. Requesting back-up, over."  
After a static sound, Natsume could hear a faint reply. "Request accepted, back-up ready. I repeat, back-up ready, over."  
Right after the van left the mansion grounds, Mikan spoke again, "Van number four out. Van number four out. Over."  
Immediately three similarly-designed vans came out of nowhere and surrounded their vans.  
Natsume raised an eyebrow, mildly impressed. "Is this back-up from Alice, too?"  
"We always provide our best service, Hyuuga. Keep that in mind." Mikan put her walkie-talkie away.  
The van was spacious. There was a bulletproof divider between the driver's seat and the back part of the van, which was occupied by Natsume and Mikan. The back part of the van consisted of a single bed, a small pantry with basic cooking equipment, some storage place, a television, a small couch, a toilet, and a small shower. There was another retractable divider that can hide the toilet and shower.  
"This looks like a decent living place," Natsume scanned the surroundings.  
"Because it is going to be one," Mikan said. "We're going to sleep here most of the times during the tour."  
"WHAT?! You're asking me to sleep in that small bed?!" Natsume pointed the single bed.  
Mikan shrugged. "If you like the floor or the couch more, I'll gladly take the bed. But I remind you, the roads may be rocky, so floor might not be your best choice. And the couch is small, I suggest you sleep in fetus position." She giggled, imagining Natsume sleeping like a ball.  
"Stop laughing," Natsume glared at her. "The bed is mine."  
"Alright, alright," Mikan tried to suppress her giggle. But at that time, her Bluetooth speaker buzzed. Mikan quickly turned into work mode and responded at once. "Yes?"  
"Mikan?"  
Mikan knew that voice. "Hotaru. What happened?"  
"Another interference. Someone spread nails on the road. Now the wheels have to be changed—all four of them. Fortunately it didn't take long, with the help from the guards."  
"Is Ruka okay?"  
"Yeah, Nogi is fine. But Natsume's the one you should be worrying about, Mikan."  
Mikan rolled her eyes. "Please."  
"I'm serious. Don't you see the pattern? First Koko, then Ando, now Nogi. It's no coincidence—the culprit specifically targeted our van. If he or she didn't, it would have caught Sumire's van which was in front of us." Hotaru's voice was sharp. "And so…"  
"…Natsume is their next target," Mikan concluded, her eyes now focused at Natsume.  
Natsume blinked at her. "What?"

* * *

 **Quick question: should this story have a happy ending or a sad one?**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **~sassgoddess**


	5. The Suspect

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

 **I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry for disappearing! " I'm working really hard for my upcoming exam (which is starting next week, by the way, bless my soul) and my internet also thinks that I should focus studying so yeah, again, apologies :( I hope you can bear my slow pace of updating and continue reading!**

 _"What is the music of life?"_

 _"Silence, my brother."_

 _-Skyrim_

"All the vans have arrived safely."

Mikan was on alert the whole time, and it tired her, but fortunately nothing happened to Natsume. She sighed loudly as the van stopped. _At least now we're together, it will be easier._

"Where is this?" Natsume asked.

"Gas station," Mikan replied. "We're halfway your first concert place. Do you want to go buy something at the convenience store?"

"I want, but I don't want to move. Buy for me." Natsume jumped onto the bed.

"I am not your servant! Go buy it yourself."

"Even if I go by myself, you'll need to come with me, right? Then it's gonna be the same—you'll need to go there anyway."

"That's a different story. My mission is to protect you."

"And outside this van, I believe some guards would have been assigned to protect this van. I don't see what all the fuss is about. Nothing had happened so far." Natsume yawned. "Nothing will happen, geez."

" _Nothing_ had happened?!" Mikan narrowed her eyes in disbelief. "Don't you remember the poison in Koko's cake?! The brick thrown to Tsubasa's window?! And for your information, this morning Ruka's van had to stop, because some people spread nails on the road and they had to change all four wheels."

Natsume rolled his eyes. He didn't even look surprised. "And did any of them impact our trip?"

"If Sumire wasn't there yesterday, Koko would've died."

"I doubted that. We can bring him to the hospital as fast as possible and nothing would happen."

"Gosh, why are you so stubborn? Do you hate us so much?" Mikan sighed heavily.

Natsume stared at her right in the eyes before answering, "You're a hindrance."

Mikan gritted her teeth. She didn't know it would hurt so much, having someone to tell you that you're only a hindrance.

"I'll go buy some things at the convenience store," she quietly said as she turned.

"Grab some Doritos while you're on it."

Mikan didn't reply. She walked out and slammed the door shut. After saying to the guards that she'd leave for a moment, she made a walk to the convenience store.

 _You're a hindrance_.

Mikan could feel her eyes stinging. She blinked rapidly to get rid of that feeling. _I can't cry because of this_ , she bit her lower lip and walked faster. _I'm a professional. I can't get swayed just because my client doesn't like how I do my job._

"Mikan!"

Mikan turned in reflex to find Misaki waving at her. Sumire and Hotaru were behind her, catching up to her.

"We tried to contact you but you never picked up," Misaki said while trying to control her breath.

"Oh. Oh," Mikan remembered taking off her Bluetooth speaker after they arrived and put it somewhere. "Sorry, my ears were hot. I was thinking of taking them off for a moment but I forgot to put them back in."

Sumire glared at her. "Stupid! We think something had happened! No more forgetting to contact, is that understood?!"

Sumire could be really scary if she wanted to. "Yes, sorry," Mikan murmured.

Misaki sighed. "It's okay to make mistakes, Mikan. Don't be so down." She pat Mikan's shoulder reassuringly. "Sumire only wants to make sure you learn from them."

Mikan only nodded. It wasn't Sumire's harsh words that made her down. It was Natsume's. _Why?_ "I'm okay," Mikan tried to sound cheerful as she lifted her head up. "So, any updates?"

Sumire's face turned grim. "Actually, yes. Our mission has been changed," she said.

Mikan blinked. "What? I don't understand. Changed?"

"More like _updated_ ," Misaki explained.

"Now our mission is no longer only to protect _Fire_ ," Sumire quietly said. "It's now 'protect _Fire_ , _and eliminate Silence_ '."

Mikan walked back from the convenience store with a bag full of snacks on her hand when she saw a small commotion in front of Natsume's van. She hurried there, worried something might have happened when she was away from Natsume.

"What happened?!" She asked, out of breath.

"Ah, Miss Sakura," a guard said in relief. "These—these girls insisted to meet Mr Hyuuga."

"Not all of us!" A pink-haired girl said. "Only one person!"

"Yes, yes!" A blue-haired girl chimed in. "Only our Miss needs to see him!"

"I—It's okay, Anna, Nonoko," suddenly a soft voice interrupted their rain of protests. "If I really can't see Natsume, it's okay. I understand, this is for safety measurements."

Mikan turned to the source of voice.

A beautiful girl with medium-length blonde hair was standing behind the two girls—Anna and Nonoko. Her skin was pale, as if she had never been under the sun for years, but her lips were rosy pink in contrast. Even though Mikan rarely saw the news, she knew very well who that girl was. She had seen her in Natsume's photo frame, after all.

"Luna Koizumi?" Mikan stared at her, disbelieving and confused.

She turned her attention to Mikan. "Sorry, do I know you?"

Mikan dismissed the guards. "I'll take care of her," she said, before turning back to Luna and her companies. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Koizumi. I'm Natsume Hyuuga's new personal bodyguard, hired from Alice. My name is Mikan Sakura." She smiled at them.

"From Alice?" Luna looked surprised. "I suppose Mr Tono hired you?"

"Yes, me and my friends."

Luna sighed in relief. "I'm glad. They all need as much protection as they can get now, considering the threat from _Silence_. Actually that is one reason I come here—I just want to check on Natsume."

 _She's his girlfriend, after all. Of course she would be worried._ "I understand," Mikan smiled warmly. Luna seemed like a really kind and polite girl. "Of course, you have every rights to see him. But just for safety reasons, do you mind if I conduct a body search on you? Oh, and I'm afraid your companions cannot go with you."

"It's okay," Luna smiled gratefully at her. "Thank you so much, Miss Sakura."

"Just call me Mikan, please."

While Mikan was performing body search, she noticed that Luna's right arm was bandaged. "You're injured? What happened?"

When Mikan's hand touched the bandage, Luna moved her hand surprisingly fast. Her already pale face turned paler.

"I—It's nothing," she quickly said. "I—I tripped."

That was the lamest excuse Mikan had heard in her whole life, but she said nothing. She just smiled sweetly. "You have to be careful, okay? It's not good for girls to be having injuries, Miss Koizumi."

"Call me Luna, please. How about you, Miss Mikan? Your job is dangerous, after all."

 _She's diverting the topic to me._ "Just Mikan, please. And yes, I got a lot of injuries. But I don't mind. This is my job, and I love it."

Luna smiled at her warmly, but Mikan couldn't help but feel suspicious after finding the injury. She felt that Luna was hiding something.

After Luna walked into the van, Mikan called her companions.

"Hi," Mikan greeted them. "Your names are Anna and Nonoko, I suppose?"

"I'm Anna," the pink-haired girl said.

"And I'm Nonoko," the blue-haired girl continued.

"We're both Miss Luna's maids," they said together. "Nice to meet you, Miss Mikan."

"Just Mikan, please. Nice to meet you too," Mikan smiled. "Is it okay if I ask a few questions about Luna? You know, I'm her fan. She's so pretty," Mikan pretended to fangirl over Luna.

"Yes, Miss Luna is so pretty!" Anna said dreamily. "Of course we don't mind."

"Say, how long has she been dating Hyuuga?"

"I think it's been around seven months," Nonoko said. "Miss Luna was extremely happy, we remembered that. She'd liked Mr Hyuuga for quite a while before that."

"Come to think about it, Miss Luna changed around that period of time."

Mikan's suspicion perked up. "Changed? What do you mean?"

"Yeah, she started hiding things from us," Anna frowned. "She would go out late at night and came back injured, but she wouldn't tell us what she did or where she went."

"And she's been going to meet Mr Hyuuga more often," Nonoko added. "Well, I'd say it's because she's worried. But nowadays, every time she met Mr Hyuuga, she would have a… weird look on her face. I couldn't really tell what that means. How about you, Anna?"

"Same here," Anna said, still frowning. "It was as if she's… hesitating."

Mikan's heart beat faster. _Could it be…?_ "Uh, guys, by any chance, is she… y'know, able to defend herself and stuff? I mean, it looks rather dangerous, going out by herself only with you two…"

"Miss Luna is very capable of defending herself," Nonoko cut Mikan off.

"She knew martial arts, and she could handle guns quite well," Anna elaborated. "She might not look like it, but she actually can be quite a tough opponent in a fight."

Nonoko nodded in agreement. "That's why she can roam around freely."

Mikan glanced at her watch. Luna's going to finish soon. "One last question. Do you know anything about the injury on her arm?"

"Ah, she left in the middle of the night yesterday and came back like that," Anna said, sighing. "She didn't say anything, but her right arm was injured. It was like a graze or a cut, and it's bleeding. Fortunately we were still awake and could perform first-aid on her."

 _Gotcha._ "Thank you. Oh, and can you not tell Luna about this? I'm sure she would be shy if her fan knew about these stuffs."

Anna and Nonoko nodded eagerly, and at that moment, Luna came out from the van.

"Thank you so much, Mikan," she said, smiling faintly at her. "It was nice, seeing Natsume safe. I'll take my leave now."

"See you around, Luna," Mikan said. "And… did _something_ graze you, that you have this injury?" She pointed at her bandage, smiling.

Luna turned pale again. "N—No. As I have said, Mikan, I tripped and fell." She quickly turned away. "Anna, Nonoko, let's go."

The two girls followed her and walked away. Mikan waved at them, but after they disappeared, she quickly climbed into the van and grabbed her Bluetooth speaker.

"Guys, I think I find a—"

At that moment, she heard something exploded outside.

 **Sooo. How was it? Okay, yeah, the end is an** **annoying** **cliffhanger. I like giving cliffhangers. *smiles evilly***

 **Anyway, thanks for reading all the way here. Oh and thanks too for people who give their suggestion for the ending! Sorry I can't mention all of you one by one but please know that I love y'all :***

 **Well, wish me luck for my exams!**

 **~sassgoddess**


	6. The Discovery

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

 **Hello again! Because I felt like I am a bad writer (I am, yeah, sorry :( ) so I decided to post another chapter, yay. I mean, yay! Of course I'm excited! My ideas are overflowing that I actually abandoned my homework now. (Somebody please stop me.)**

 **And btw now I'm doing two challenges: Weekly Writing Challenge and 100 Happy Days Challenge! They are so fun, so if you're interested, you can search about them or ask me :)**

 _"What is the music of life?"_

 _"Silence, my brother."_

 _-Skyrim_

"What happened?!" Mikan panted, out of breath, as she—followed by Natsume—arrived at the crowd.

"A time bomb," Hotaru said, almost calmly.

Mikan's eyes flew to the van, which had already stopped burning thanks to immediate measures. It's Koko's van. _Why is it Koko again? Why did they skip Natsume? Could it be…_

"Are you guys all right?" Misaki asked Sumire and Koko.

"I'm fine," Sumire said calmly, but her left arm was bleeding quite a bit. "Take care of Koko."

"I'm perfectly fine and uninjured. Sumire pushed me out just on time," Koko quickly said. "Take care of Sumire, please."

"No! Please check on him first," Sumire insisted, but Mikan could see her arm trembling. Gently she approached Sumire. "Sumire, I know you're the head of the team, but that doesn't mean you can't be weak." She smiled warmly at her. "Guys," she turned to the four guys, "please stay in Hyuuga's van for now. There will be guards. Girls, we need to have a short meeting while we attend to Sumire."

Now the girls all sat in Ruka's van, while Hotaru quietly took care of Sumire's injury.

"Are you okay?" Misaki worriedly asked.

"Misaki, you know this much is nothing," Sumire murmured. "Anyway, Mikan, what did you want to tell us?"

Mikan took a deep breath. "I'm suspecting someone to be involved with _Silence_."

"And who is that?"

"Luna Koizumi."

Misaki sprung to her feet in disbelief.

"Mikan, if you're gonna say that, you better have evidence," Sumire coldly said.

"Hear me out first, guys. Most of them are only speculations, but… they fit perfectly," Mikan said in all seriousness. "I heard that since she dated Natsume, she became different. She's been going out late at night and coming back even later, with unexplained injuries. And she didn't talk about it either."

"Okay, that's kind of suspicious. How long has that been going on? I mean, since she dated Natsume, of course, but when did they start dating?" Misaki asked.

"Around seven months ago."

"That's when _Silence_ began to attack," Sumire said, saucer-eyed.

"Moreover, they—Luna's maids—said that Luna has been acting weird around Natsume. It was as if she's hesitating," Mikan said. "And did you see today? They didn't go in cycle as we predicted. They _skipped_ Natsume and went straight back to Koko. What if Luna didn't want Natsume to get hurt because she loved him so much?"

Mikan could see the others begin to contemplate her assumption now.

"One last thing," Mikan said again, "Luna got an injury on her right arm. She looked particularly pale when I mentioned it. The maids said she came back yesterday with an injury that looked like a cut, or… a _graze_."

"The person I shot yesterday," Misaki muttered. "Could she really be…"

"Calm down, Misaki, Mikan," Sumire cut Misaki off and turned to Hotaru. "Hotaru, I want you to research more about this, and update us on anything new you find, be it for or against Mikan's speculations."

Hotaru nodded and finished bandaging Sumire's arm.

"Thanks, Hotaru." Sumire smiled. Then he turned back to the others, her face back to serious. "Okay, for now, no more about Koizumi until Hotaru finished researching. Still keep an eye for the guys. Misaki, protect Tsubasa—he might be the next target. Be careful—they're getting more and more dangerous. Mikan, I want you to check Koko's van for any evidence. If that is understood, dismissed."

All the girls nodded and dispersed.

Mikan didn't find any particular evidence on Koko's burnt van, but that didn't disappoint her. She had expected that. _Luna was here too just now. Could it be that she came to ask someone to put on the time bomb while everyone's attention was diverted to her, who was busy trying to get into Natsume's van?_

Sumire had told them to stop with the speculations about Luna, but Mikan couldn't help it. Luna was very suspicious. And now, she grew curious too of what Luna had talked with Natsume earlier.

She walked back to Natsume's van and opened the door energetically. "Hyuuga!"

"Shut up, you're too loud," Natsume said in annoyance as he munched on some Doritos.

"Sorry," Mikan said, totally not feeling sorry, as she closed the van door. "I met Luna just now. She really is pretty."

"Hn."

"Can't believe someone so pretty would agree to be your girlfriend," Mikan said mockingly.

Natsume glanced at her. "Careful with what you said, Miss Sakura."

"What? What're you gonna do to me? Hit me like one of your drum sets?" Mikan shot back, before realizing, _I shouldn't be fighting with him._ "Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Mikan added hurriedly.

"You're actually apologizing? Wow, I'm impressed."

"Okay, I'm not here to fight with you," Mikan tried to keep herself level-headed. She needed to ask him about Luna. "I'm just curious, what did you talk with Luna earlier?"

"Nothing," Natsume said indifferently. "Why do you care anyway? I said, no meddling with my personal life."

Mikan pouted. "I'm just worried about Luna. She seemed to have been acting differently nowadays, her maids said. I guess you might have known a thing or two about it, since you're her boyfriend."

"She's just sad seeing her dad tired, probably. Her dad has been busy working," Natsume said vaguely.

Realizing she's not going to get anything out of Natsume, Mikan sighed. At that moment, her walkie-talkie buzzed. "Yes—"

"WEAR YOUR BLUETOOTH SPEAKER, WILL YOU?!"

Mikan put the walkie-talkie away. Sumire's scream was extremely loud. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry!" Mikan hurriedly wore her Bluetooth speaker. "Geez, Sumire, your voice is too loud!"

"I told you not to forget again, didn't I?!" Sumire shouted again.

"Calm down, Sumire," Mikan could hear Misaki, suppressing her laughter. "We have some business, remember?"

"Ah, yes! It's not the time for this! Hotaru, if you please."

"I have conducted a simple research," Hotaru's calm voice came in. "And I found out that all the bands that have been attacked so far, all of them are bands under Koizumi Music Industries. And all the attacks were thoroughly planned, and could only be carried out with the help of someone inside." Some clicking voice could be heard. "And even when they tried to set a fake concert date, somehow _Silence_ can figure it out. Only people closely related to the authorities in Koizumi Music Industries could have known about this, and of course, the people who have bought the concert ticket were also informed about this with high secrecy. But they couldn't have carried away the attacks. I have researched about the people and found nothing suspicious. Besides, none of them went to all the concerts that were wrecked."

"That was fast, Hotaru. Thanks."

"So, she's suspicious, no?" Mikan said again.

"I think I agree with Mikan," Misaki said. "She must have hidden something."

"Hotaru?" Sumire asked.

Silence for a while, before Hotaru said, "For once, I'd say Mikan has a point."

"Hotaru!" Mikan protested.

"Alright," Sumire said. "For now, she is set as our primary suspect. Mikan, find more information about her. Hotaru, try to track people around her down. Dismissed."

Mikan took off her Bluetooth speaker, smiling widely in triumph. Finally she did something useful for the group.

 **I feel like this chapter is rather short so I'm sorry I'll work hard so I can finish this story right after my exam hahaha! Thank you for reading, and as usual, flames and (hopefully) words of encouragement are much welcomed! :)**

 **~sassgoddess**


	7. The Relationship

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.**

 **Hi! Finally my exams are over (for now)! There's another big project coming up but it's still quite far away, so yeah! Sorry to keep you guys waiting _ Okay, without further ado, I present to you this chapter!**

* * *

 _"What is the music of life?"  
_

 _"Silence, my brother."_

 _-Skyrim_

* * *

Mikan yawned. The van had been going non-stop for eight hours. It was 10 P.M., and Mikan was already bored of watching TV. Natsume didn't say anything for eight hours except for basic conversation like "I'm hungry". Mikan had to cook him some instant noodles, which was met by strong disagreement ("I'm an idol, and you're asking me to eat instant noodles?!"), but fortunately concluded with peace agreement ("Fine, I'll eat it this time, but next time you better give me better food!"). Aside from that, they barely emitted any sound, as if they didn't acknowledge each other's presence.  
Maybe now I should try to find some information, Mikan thought. She turned to Natsume. "Hey, Hyu—"  
And she froze.  
Natsume Hyuuga was sitting on the window pane next to the bed, looking out of the window, his crimson eyes glowed in the darkness. It looked like a painting that Mikan couldn't help but stare.  
His raven hair slightly swayed, and for a moment, Mikan caught an emotion in his usually-emotionless eyes—was it hesitation, or fear, or confusion? Mikan couldn't grasp it, as at that time, Natsume turned to her. He looked surprised for the first time. "What?" He asked quickly, as if he had been caught off-guard.  
"Nothing," Mikan shook her head. "What're you looking at?"  
Natsume eyed her doubtfully for a moment before returning his gaze outside the window. "The moon," he muttered. "It's really nice tonight."  
Those words sounded so poetic that Mikan couldn't believe that it was the Natsume Hyuuga who said it. Nevertheless, she approached the window. "Where?" She asked curiously.  
Wordlessly, Natsume pointed somewhere in the sky, and Mikan followed. Her eyes fell on the full moon, shrouded by grey clouds in the inky sky. The view was picturesque that Mikan gasped in awe. "It's beautiful," she whispered.  
For some time, they just kept staring at the moon, which always seemed to be one step ahead of the running van. The silence between them was not awkward—it was comforting. Unlike the silence before, this silence actually made Mikan feel closer to Natsume.  
She turned to face Natsume… and found that Natsume was staring at her.  
Crimson eyes met hazel ones.  
And for a moment, Mikan was swallowed by their depth.  
But she quickly snapped out of it. "I—I didn't know you're the poetic type," Mikan quickly said to cover her embarrassment. Wait, why am I embarrassed?  
"I'm not, I'm just stating the fact. The moon really is nice tonight." Natsume shrugged.  
Mikan couldn't argue with that. They both looked back at the moon.  
"Hyuuga, why do you become an idol?"  
Natsume stared at Mikan. "Because I want to," he answered simply.  
"Why do you want to?"  
Natsume was quiet for a moment before replying, "For my sister."  
Mikan's eyes widened. "You have a sister?"  
Natsume seemed glad to be able to divert the topic, although this topic didn't particularly please him either. "She's three years younger than me."  
"What's her name? Do you have a picture of her? Can I see?" Mikan asked eagerly.  
Natsume sighed, but nevertheless took out his wallet. He opened it and showed the picture inside to Mikan.  
Mikan stared at that picture. "Wow! She looked just like you!"  
The girl inside the picture was pretty. She had short hair, with the exact same color as Natsume's raven hair. She had pretty crimson eyes, too, but with different sparkle compared to Natsume's. In that picture, she was laughing and Natsume was standing next to her, slightly smiling. For once, Natsume looked genuinely happy, and somehow it made Mikan's heart throb.  
"Her name is Aoi," Natsume said, and Mikan could see a faint smile in his face.  
"You really love her, don't you?" Mikan smiled. "You look really happy just by talking about her."  
"I'd do anything for her," Natsume said, his voice serious. He brushed his fingers over the picture.  
"Where is she now?" Mikan asked.  
Natsume's hand stopped. "She's living in an apartment now. It's near our last concert place."  
"Is she living by herself?" Mikan furrowed her eyebrows. The way Natsume talked unsettled her.  
"Our parents had passed away," Natsume murmured, closing his wallet and keeping it back. There it comes, Natsume thought. Every time he talked about that, everyone would pity him and said meaningless words like "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that" and "What happened?" and "Stay strong". Natsume hated them. Now Mikan Sakura would bombard him with those words… …or so he thought.  
Surprisingly, she didn't. She simply smiled at Natsume.  
"My parents, too, had passed away," she took her own wallet out. Inside, there was a picture of a young man and young woman smiling at the camera. "My dad passed away before I was born, and my mom passed away shortly after giving birth to me. They both had no close relative, so my late grandmother's cousin adopted me. He was the only one who would accept me." Mikan's eyes saddened.  
Now Natsume didn't know what to say, and suddenly he understood why everyone kept on saying "sorry" after he told them his story.  
Mikan's eyes turned to her, and she smiled sadly.  
For the first time—this girl gave him so many first times—Natsume felt like he wanted to make someone else aside from Aoi happy.

* * *

The crowd had unlimited supply of energy, it seemed. Fire had been performing for the last three hours and the cheering and applauds were still deafeningly loud.  
With the last beat from the drum, the encore ended. All the members of Fire returned to the backstage, drenched in sweat, but all safe and sound.  
"First concert is done. Fortunately nothing happened," Mr Tono sighed in relief. "Now we have to quickly prepare to move to another place."  
The girls dispersed, approaching their respective partners with water bottle and towel.  
"You were great up there!" Misaki said, smiling widely. Her eyes were sparkling in amazement. "You really hit that high note for that song Recrudescence perfectly! And y'know, for the second song, I really like that part…"  
Misaki continued to praise Tsubasa as he wiped his sweat and occasionally laughed along with her.  
Hotaru wordlessly handed the water bottle and the towel to Ruka. Ruka took them gratefully and took a sip.  
Click!  
Ruka blinked nervously. Hotaru was holding a camera up. "W—what did you just do?"  
"Taking special pictures of Ruka Nogi at the backstage, of course. What else would it be?" Hotaru continued taking pictures. "Can you do some other poses? It looks kind of boring."  
Ruka flushed. "You're not taking pictures without my permission!"  
Hotaru took out the memory card of the camera. "Too bad, I got special orders already. Your backstage pictures are going to be sold online soon."  
Ruka's eyes widened. "Give me that memory card!"  
Meanwhile, Sumire and Koko didn't say anything. Koko looked exhausted and Sumire didn't want to tire him more.  
Koko glanced at her. "What, no compliment for me?"  
Sumire turned at him. "Why do I need to compliment you?"  
"So, how was the performance?"  
"Good," Sumire simply said. Magnificent, she would like to say, but she quietly shushed that voice inside her head.  
"Only good?" Koko raised his eyebrow. "How was my performance?"  
You were awesome. "Okay, I guess," Sumire looked somewhere else.  
"Oh."  
Sumire glanced back, only to find Koko. He looked slightly disappointed and Sumire felt bad for that.  
"You looked cool," Sumire mumbled. She blushed against her will.  
Koko looked back at Sumire, who was now staring at the wall. He slightly smiled and ruffled Sumire's hair.  
"W—what was that for?!" Sumire tried to fix her hair.  
"You're cute," Koko said straightforwardly while smiling at her.  
Sumire blushed. "S—stop saying things like that!" She swung her hand to punch his shoulder, but she missed and hit his water bottle instead. Water spilled everywhere—on his shirt, his jeans, the floor. To Sumire's surprise, Koko laughed instead.  
"You're impossible, really." Koko laughed.  
And Sumire didn't understand why, but she laughed along.  
At the other side of the room, Mikan hopped next to Natsume. "Hey! That was fantastic!" She handed him the water bottle and the towel, smiling excitedly.  
"Of course." Natsume gulped down the water nonchalantly. "Thanks."  
Mikan still smiled. Ever since that night, Natsume had warmed up a bit to her. At least now they called each other by their first name, and Natsume had significantly reduced the number of times when he ignored her. And that made Mikan happy. Natsume's actually a good person, Mikan thought.  
"Fortunately nothing happened," Mikan said cheerfully. "Oh, you're sweating so much." She wiped Natsume's sweat with the towel gently. "Must be tiring, performing for that long, exerting so much energy."  
Natsume said nothing. He just stared at Mikan while twisting the bottle cap close. But at that moment, he dropped the bottle.  
Mikan picked it up. She saw Natsume's calloused hands trembling. He played with so much passion, Mikan recalled. His hands must be dead tired now. "Let's head back to the van. You're tired, right?" She smiled at him. "Good job, Natsume. I really enjoyed the concert. Thank you." Mikan turned and walked away, expecting Natsume to follow her. However, for whatever reason, Mikan tripped and fell. And her underwear was exposed.  
A thick silence filled the room.  
"So," Natsume smirked, "polka-dots?"  
Mikan could feel blood rushing to the top of her head.  
"NATSUMEEEEEEEEEEE!"

* * *

 **So! This chapter has a lot of NatsuMikan moments, which I really like, teehee~**

 **Anyway, as usual, feedbacks (and flames) are welcome :) You guys really motivate me to write, y'know! I LOVE YOU ALL!**

 **Thank you for reading! Please wait for the next chapter too!**

 **~sassgoddess**


	8. The Moment

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.  
**

 **Hi guys~ I'm back. Finally. There were (or actually, _are_ ) a lot of problems; not only about school and family, my wifi and laptop didn't seem like they wanted to cooperate with me as well. *sigh* I kept on writing the stories but I can't seem to upload them. Today, I tried again and voila, here I am! I'm super excited. Moreover, I got an idea for a new story, probably published soon ;) (I know I haven't even finished this but I think I can manage... yeah... I guess so.)**

 **I hope you guys are still alive and kicking even though I took forever to load. Now, enjoy :)**

* * *

 _"What is the music of life?"_

 _"Silence, my brother."_

 _-Skyrim_

* * *

As the tour continued, Mikan grew more and more suspicious of Luna. Luna had been visiting frequently, and sometimes during her visit, something would happen. The girls had been able to handle the disruptions well, but that didn't seem to discourage _Silence_ 's active attacks.

Their second last concert just finished, and the boys just returned to their respective vans for a slumber. Mikan was walking to the van while arguing with Natsume about the performance ("You almost missed the first beat of the song!" "I didn't—it was supposed to be like that!") when Sumire pulled her aside. "Hyuuga, I'll be borrowing your bodyguard for a quick meeting. You can return to your van to rest. Good job just now." Sumire smiled sweetly at Natsume.

Natsume shrugged. "Sure."

"Well, see you later," Mikan hurriedly said before Sumire pulled her away to regroup with Hotaru and Misaki.

"Hi guys," Mikan greeted them cheerfully. "So what's now?"

"I'm reporting my findings," Hotaru started while she flipped through a stack of papers. "It is confirmed that recently, during one of the concerts when the electricity went out for a while—fortunately we have prepared a backup power supply—the nearby security guard saw a suspicious shadow around the electricity room," she said. "The shadow had been said to have the figure of a young girl. I have confirmed too that this statement is credible. Then just now, around an hour before the concert, Ruka got locked in the toilet, remember? Two staffs had stated that they saw a young girl wandering around before they found Ruka. They said the girl looked familiar, but they couldn't exactly explain why."

"It made sense though, if it is someone famous… like Luna Koizumi, for example," Mikan chimed in. "Right, guys?"

She turned to the others, but the three of them were exchanging looks.

Mikan furrowed her eyebrows. "Guys?"

"Mikan, we need to talk to you," Sumire said.

Mikan laughed nervously. "Uh, guys? What is this? Is this some kind of joke?"

Sumire nudged Misaki. Misaki glared at her, but Mikan had shifted her attention to Misaki. She sighed. "Fine. Listen, Mikan… we think you've, uh, forgotten about your job. We think you're getting too attached to Hyuuga, and you're way too biased against Koizumi because of that."

Mikan blushed slightly. "What?! Th—that's ridiculous! I'm just doing my job! Can't you guys see it?!"

They didn't respond—just more looks exchanged.

Mikan sighed in exasperation. "Seriously, guys?"

"Mikan, have you been meddling with his personal life?"

Sumire's question made Mikan's mind jump back to the nights in the van when they exchanged stories about each other. About their families. Their childhood. Their hobbies. Mikan remembered that night when Natsume was staring at the moon and he opened up for the first time about Aoi.

And that thought kept her mouth shut.

Sumire sighed. "As we thought."

"Mikan, you can't involve your feelings in the job," Misaki said sharply. Mikan was taken aback. Misaki never spoke to her in that tone before. _Never_. And somehow that made Mikan angry.

"You guys are such hypocrites," she snickered. "You're telling me to stop befriending Natsume? Why?! Take a good hard look at yourselves! Do you think I don't know what's happening? Huh? Misaki, you've been taking a lot of pictures together with Tsubasa, and I know you usually don't like taking pictures with guys." Mikan glared at Misaki, who widened her eyes at that statement.

"Mikan—"

"Hotaru has been goofing around with Ruka—taking pictures of him and selling those pictures, and teasing him like a little baby. And you guys only scold _me_ for being a friend? Seriously, guys?! And Sumire, I know you have feelings for—"

 _Slap!_

Mikan couldn't believe it.

Sumire just slapped her.

Mikan's cheek was aching painfully. She slowly brought her cold hand up to cool the burning sensation on her reddened cheek—but doing so just make everything feel more _real_. Sumire had _really_ slapped her.

Misaki gasped. "Mikan! Are you okay?"

She hurriedly approached Mikan and tried to embrace her, but Mikan slapped her hand away. "Go away," she said coldly. She glared icily at Sumire. "I understand, Sumire. This is what you want? Fine. Thank you for reminding me."

Mikan turned and walked away.

* * *

SLAM!

Natsume lifted his head in annoyance. He was peacefully sleeping when the loud slam on the door woke him up abruptly. Must be Mikan, he thought irritably, drowsily. "Polka-dots, can you not? An idol is sleepi—"

And he was instantly cut off by sobs.

Natsume jumped upright on his bed. Mikan was slumping against the door. In the darkness, it was hard to tell how she looked, but she was certainly crying. Her shoulders rose and fell subtly as she tried to suppress her sobs. Her hair fell messily, framing her now-hidden face like a ripped curtain.

Natsume's sleepiness was gone at that second. He stood and walked with big steps towards Mikan.

"Mikan," he called. "Mikan, what happened? Are you alright?"

Mikan didn't respond, but it looked like she tried to. "G—g—g—ggo—aw—a—w—wa—y," Mikan said with jagged breath, in-between the tears and uncontrollable sobs.

Natsume crouched, so now he was the same height as Mikan, who was now practically sitting on the floor.

"Mikan," he called again, gentler this time. He put his hands on her shoulders. "Mikan, look at me."

When Mikan failed to respond, Natsume cupped her face with his big hands, and lifted them up gently to face him.

Mikan's face was a mess. Her eyes were red. Tears were everywhere, wetting his face and stubbornly sticking strands of brown hair to her face. Her mouth was half-open, breathing in and out with difficulties. Her usual cheery smile seemed like an illusion now, and Natsume wondered, how long had she been keeping this side of hers away?

Natsume took one hand off her face to grab a tissue. He wiped her face clean. "Calmed down?" He asked again softly while handing her tissues for her to blow her nose.

She gratefully took them and blew her nose in front of Natsume without hesitation. She then took a deep breath and slowly blew it out, trying to even her breath.

"Much better." Her eyes fluttered open. "Thanks, Natsume. Sorry for making such a fuss. You should go back to sleep now."

Instead, Natsume pulled her wrist, forcing her up. Then he brought her to the bed. "Sit," he commanded. Then he walked away to the fridge, opening it.

Mikan was puzzled, but she obeyed anyway. At that moment, the walkie-talkie buzzed. Mikan glanced at it, afraid it would be any of the girls. She didn't feel like talking with them at that time—not after what had happened. How could Sumire slap her? But also, how could she lose her control like that? She was supposed to be a professional. Now she realized it—she was no professional. She was just a hot-tempered little girl, feeling on top of the world after she was given her first mission. That thought made Mikan's eyes hot again, but she quickly shushed the thought away.

"Why don't you pick it up?" Natsume closed the fridge. Now two cans of soft drinks were on his hands.

Mikan fumbled with her reply. "Ah, I—uh—that's…"

Natsume threw one can to Mikan. She caught it in surprise as Natsume picked up the walkie-talkie. "Yes, Hyuuga speaking… ah, yes. Okay, okay. Thank you. Please proceed." He set the walkie-talkie down. "Just the guards, they're informing us that we're leaving now."

"Oh." Mikan's shoulders relaxed. "Okay."

In a short moment, the van drove away. Only the sound of engine filled the silence for a while.

"So, why did you not want to answer that? What happened?"

Mikan sighed. There's no escaping Natsume, she thought. Natsume was way too adamant to shake off.

She took a deep breath. "I had a fight with the girls," she mumbled.

Natsume's expression was unreadable for a while, but it immediately turned sympathetic. "What happened?"

Mikan shook her head. She couldn't tell Natsume about it. "It's nothing. They just thought I'm… not doing my job properly, that's all." She forced a smile. "It's nothing, really. We'll make up in no time. It's not a big deal—we've been living together for a very long time. This much is nothing to our relationships."

"Why did you cry, then?"

Mikan paused. "Because," she spoke, almost inaudibly, "I realize that they are right." She looked up and her eyes locked with Natsume's. I like Natsume.

"What?" Natsume furrowed his eyebrows. "No, Mikan. You're doing great. Your job, I mean. I'm still alive, right? And nothing has happened so far—then why did you say that they're right?"

"Nothing." Mikan turned her face away, now looking out of the window. "Say, the moon's pretty bright tonight, don't you think?"

* * *

 **So. Oh well. Yeah. Just usual girls' fight and that moment when you realize you like someone and you're like "shiiiiiit".**

 **Thanks for the constant support guys, I'm really thankful for anyone who follow/review/favorite my story. I can't name all of you one by one but bear in mind that you guys are always in my heart 3 (cheesy, I know.)**

 **~sassgoddess**


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